Cuba's Castro won't attend summit in Spain after all

Latin America & Caribbean - In Brief

October 14, 2005

SALAMANCA, Spain -- Cuban leader Fidel Castro will not be attending a summit this weekend of leaders of Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries, Spanish government officials said Thursday. Foreign ministers from Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries Thursday expressed support for Cuba in two of its battles against the United States, calling for an immediate end to the U.S. economic blockade against the island and expressing support for attempts to get Washington to extradite Luis Posada Carriles, wanted for a terrorist attack against a Cuban plane in 1976. "We ask the U.S. government to fulfill 13 successive resolutions approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations to put an end to the financial, commercial and economic blockade which it maintains against Cuba," the ministers said in a statement.